Bed clothes holder



March 18,1958 A. M. STONER BED CLOTHES HOLDER Filed Feb. 16, 1955 United States. Patent BED CLOTHES HOLDER ATtliur M. Stoner, Madison, Conn. Application February 16, 1955, SeriaLNo. 488,623. 6-Glaims... (CL. H20) This invention relates to a bed clothes holder to facilitate the making of beds. The invention is of especial value when applied to the beds or berths on railway trains, airplanes and passenger steamers where one side of the mattress is not easily accessible.

In accordance with the invention, each article of bed clothing, that is to say each sheet and each blanket, is provided with a bead along one of its edges, while a holder is fixed along one edge of the bed to engage and hold the beaded edges of the sheets and blankets. With one edge of each sheet and blanket held along one edge of the bed, the bed can easily be made from the opposite side by drawing each sheet and blanket tight across the mattress and securing it in the usual way by tucking it under the mattress.

The holder is a new article of manufacture made in one piece and having the form of a plurality of adjacent slotted tubes.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the embodiments of the invention:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a mattress showing two holders embodying the invention secured along one side of the mattress;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of a part of the mattress shown in Fig. 1 showing also the sheets and blankets and their heads which engage the holder;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a holder embodying the invention and adapted to be secured directly to a mattress;

Fig. 4- is a transverse section of a modified holder secured along one side of a bed or a wall adjacent to one side of a bed;

Fig. 5 is a section of the bead along one edge of a sheet; and

Fig. 6 is a section of the bead along one edge of a blanket.

The holder 10 shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is formed of a single piece of plastic material. The material is softer than metal so that it cannot cut or tear the bed clothing. It is still but has some degree of flexibility. Most desirably, it consists of extruded commercial plastic such as Tenite I (cellulose acetate).

The holder 10 has the form of four adjacent tubes 11 which are vertically aligned and have their adjacent walls merging into each other as shown. At one side of the holder, each of the four tubes is provided with an open longitudinal slot 12. Along the outer sides of the outer tubes, the holder is provided with attachment means 13 for securing it along one edge of a 'bed. In the form which I consider most desirable, the attachment means 13 comprise tubes precisely like the tubes 11, except that their slots 14 are at the side of the holder opposite to the slots 12. In some cases, as shown for example in Fig. 4, the attachment means 13' may consist of perforated flanges which may be secured by nails or screws 15 to a wooden or metal bar or wall running along one edge of the bed.

2,826,766 Patented. Mat 18; '1 958 Each sheet 16 has along one of its edges anopen: hem 17% inzwhiclxis insertedarod: 18 of flexible'p'lastic material for'forming as head: to engage one ofcthe tubes of the holder: 10:: Eacln rodi 1 8 is most-'1 desirably: provided at one end with a head 19 which serves to locate the rod hem, to locate'wthei beadin the holder, and also to facilitate. withdrawiirg the rod, from the: hem when the sheet be washed:-

The' beadgalongione edge oteachblanket' 20=most desirably-consistsiofifaicottom cord 21'. secured to the: edge of tbeblanket: byffabrttapiping i22 sewed: to the blanket. It is sometimes desirable to replace one end portion of: the cotton corctZzl witluaslroreplastiorodflti having a tapered mi ter. beadiinto the' holder; and: the; other end portion with a short plastic rod 24 having a head 25 to locate the blanket in the holder.

In order to use the holder shown in Fig. 3, it is detachably but more or less permanently secured along one side of a mattress by engaging its outer tubes 13 with the beads 26 which ordinarily extend along the edges of a mattress. The holder is slid along the beads 26 until it occupies the desired position. As indicated in Fig. 1, I find it desirable to provide two holders 10, each a little less than onehalf the length of the mattress, so that they may be secured to one side of the mattress with an open space between them.

The bed clothing is then placed on the mattress and the beads along one edge of each sheet and blanket are drawn into the tubes 11 of the two holders 10. The most convenient way of doing this is to utilize the open space between the holders 10 and to draw one end of each sheet and blanket into one of the tubes 11 of one of the holders from the inner end of the tube. The other ends of the sheets and blankets are then drawn into the tubes of the other holder and in the same manner.

After the beads along the edges of the sheets and mattresses have been engaged with the holders as shown in Fig. 2, the bed may be made by merely drawing each sheet and blanket tight from the opposite side on the bed. This may be repeated when the bed is made each day, without reaching to the inner edge of the bed.

The holder 10' shown in Fig. 4 is convenient when the mattress is not provided with beads 26 or when the mattress is thinner or thicker than the width of the holder. The holder 10' may be secured to a wall directly behind the mattress in the case of any berth located along a wall. It is used in the same manner as the holder 10 of Fig. 3 except that the sheets are secured in the two lower tubes 11, while the blankets are secured to the upper tubes.

The holder 10' of Fig. 4 may also be used by nailing it along the edge of a box spring located below the mat tress. In this case, the slots of the holder face outwardly like those of a holder secured to the mattress, and the sheets are secured in the upper tubes of the holder.

It will be understood that, while there is a convenience in providing two holders with a space between them as shown in Fig. 1, a single holder extending all or nearly all the length of a side of the bed may be used.

It is also possible to use my new holder by securing it along the foot edge of a bed or mattress so that it may hold the bottom edges of the bed clothes when they are drawn upwardly in making the bed.

What I claim is:

l. A bed clothes holder structure comprising, in combination, flexible beads adapted to be connected along one edge of each of a number of articles of bed clothing and a holder secured along one edge of the bed and containing a plurality of horizontal slits for receiving said beads. V

2. As a new article of manufacture, a bed clothes holder consisting of a single piece of material having the form of a series of adjacent tubes, each tube containing a separate longitudinal slot at one side of the holder, and attachment means extending along the outer sides of the outer tubes.

3. A new article as claimed in claim'2, in which the attachment means have the form of slotted tubes with their slots at the side of the holder opposite from the plastic having the form of a series of adjacent tubes, each containing a separate longitudinal slot at one side of the holder, and attachment means extending along the outer sides of the outer tubes.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a bed clothes holder comprising a single piece of material having the form of a series of parallel tubes, each tube containing a separate longitudinal slot at one side of the holder, and attachment means along the length of the holder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 893,732 Hoffman July 21, 1908 FOREIGN PATENTS 420,697 Great Britain Dec. 12, 1934 462,378 Germany July 11, 1928 

